NHTSA to Chrysler's Marchionne: get act in gear on Jeep recall fix

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne was sent a stern letter on Thursday from U.S. regulators to speed up repairs of recalled Jeep SUVs that face a heightened fire risk, a government executive said.

David Friedman, deputy director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was asked by reporters if he was satisfied with Chrysler’s performance in adding trailer hitches to affected Jeep SUVs to protect them in lower speed rear-end crashes.

“No. In fact, this morning I sent a letter to the chairman and CEO of Chrysler telling them they have to get their act in gear. They have to make sure they’re getting those parts in the hands of consumers,” Friedman said.

Chrysler is a unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles . (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Alan Crosby)